Product Description

An authoritative, in-depth guide to all aspects of credit analysis from the experts at Standard & Poor's

Credit analysis--gauging an issuer's ability to repay interest and principal on a bond issue--plays an essential role in determining how bond issues are rated and priced. Fundamentals of Corporate Credit Analysis provides both analysts and investors with the practical, up-to-date information they need, backed by Standard & Poor's research, data, and experience, to properly assess the credit risk of virtually any entity.

Whether used as a handy all-in-one guide or as a comprehensive training tool, it will give anyone the knowledge and tools needed to dig beneath standard ratings and determine an organization's true creditworthiness.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92575 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 428 pages

From the Back Cover

An up-to-date, accurate framework for credit analysis and decision making, from the experts at Standard & Poor's

"In a world of increasing financial complexity and shorter time frames in which to assess the wealth or dearth of information, this book provides an invaluable and easily accessible guide of critical building blocks of credit analysis to all credit professionals."
--Apea Koranteng, Global Head, Structured Capital Markets, ABN AMRO

"The authors do a fine job of combining latest credit risk management theory and techniques with real-life examples and practical application. Whether a seasoned credit expert or a new student of credit, this is a must read book . . . a critical part of anyone's risk management library."
--Mark T. Williams, Boston University, Finance and Economics Department

"At a time when credit risk is managed in a way more and more akin to market risk, Fundamentals of Corporate Credit Analysis provides well-needed support, not only for credit analysts but also for practitioners, portfolio managers, CDO originators, and others who need to keep track of the creditworthiness of their fixed-income investments."
--Alain Canac, Chief Risk Officer, CDC IXIS

Fundamentals of Corporate Credit Analysis provides professionals with the knowledge they need to systematically determine the operating and financial strength of a specific borrower, understand credit risks inherent in a wide range of corporate debt instruments, and then rank the default risk of that borrower. Focusing on fundamental credit risk, cash flow modeling, debt structure analysis, and other important issues, and including separate chapters on country risks, industry risks, business risks, financial risks, and management, it guides the reader through every step of traditional fundamental credit analysis.

In a dynamic corporate environment, credit analysts cannot rely solely on financial statistical analysis, credit prediction models, or bond and stock price movements. Instead, a corporate credit analysis must supply loan providers and investors with more information and detail than ever before. On top of its traditional objective of assessing a firm's capacity and willingness to pay its financial obligations in a timely manner, a worthy credit analysis is now expected to assess recovery prospects of specific financial obligations should a firm become insolvent.

Fundamentals of Corporate Credit Analysis provides practitioners with the knowledge and tools they need to address these changing requirements. Drawing on the unmatched global resources and capabilities of Standard & Poor's, this valuable book organizes its guidelines into three distinct components:

• Part I: Corporate Credit Risk helps analysts identify all the essential risks related to a particular firm, and measure the firm through both a financial forecast and benchmarking with peers
• Part II: Credit Risk of Debt Instruments explains the impact of debt instruments and debt structures on a firm's recovery prospects should it become insolvent
• Part III: Measuring Credit Risk presents a scoring system to assess the capacity and willingness of a firm to repay its debt in a timely fashion and to evaluate recovery prospects in the event of financial distress

In addition, a fourth component--Cases in Credit Analysis--examines seven real-life studies to provide examples of the book's theory and procedures in practice. Senior Standard & Poor's analysts explore diverse cases ranging from North and South America to Europe and the Pacific Rim, on topics covering mergers (AT&T-Comcast, MGM-Mirage, Kellogg-Keebler), foreign ownership in a merger (Air New Zealand-Ansett-Singapore Airlines), sovereign issues (Repsol-YPF), peer comparisons (U.S. forestry), and recovery analysis (Yell LBO). Industry "Keys to Success" are identified and analyzed in each case, along with an explanation on how to interpret performance and come to a credit decision.

While it is still true that ultimate credit decisions are highly subjective in nature, methodologies and thought processes can be repeatable from case to case. Fundamentals of Corporate Credit Analysis provides analysts with the knowledge and tools they need to systematically analyze a company, identify and analyze the most important factors in determining its creditworthiness, and ensure that more "science" than "art" is used in making the final credit decision.

About the Author

Blaise Ganguin is a managing director in Standard & Poor's Corporate & Government Ratings. Ganguin supervises teams of corporate credit analysts in Europe.

John Bilardello is a managing director in Standard & Poor's Corporate & Government Ratings. Bilardello manages S&P's global corporate ratings business.

Standard & Poor's is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, data and valuations. An essential part of the world's financial infrastructure, Standard & Poor's has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions.

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Customer Reviews

A Definitive Book On Setting Corporate Analysis Policy
I had the pleasure of working with one of the authors 15 years ago. But don't let that sway you. I truly appreciate the scope and effort put into this book. We will use it as an outline for how our analysts should approach analyzing a credit. Chapter 3 alone is worth the price of admission as the authors list the elusive "qualitative" factors that go into a credit rating, beyond what the ratios tell you it should be. While the book barely scratches the surface of certain analytical methods (the Merton Model got 1/2 a page), and it is written more for the layman or student, I still learned many things. And I've been in the business 20+ years. The prior reviewer, and many others will say they wished they wrote this book. I will too. I even briefly started my own version recently. But I first turned to S&P's ratings criteria as an outline. As such, the right people wrote this book. The authors fully used the vast resources and data mining of S&P. This certainly feels like a team effort. The telecom analyst wrote a piece on the rapid decline of telecom credits in 2000-2002, and other professionals added real life examples. The book organizes itself in the top down approach to analysis. It starts with sovereign risk, then moves to industry, then company business/competitive risk. It then highlights the ratios to look for, and also gives data on seniority and recovery values for specific levels of debt. It then uses these tools to analyze a fictional company. It ends with case studies that cover M&A, sovereign risk and other topical reviews that act as a real life summary to what you just learned. Highly recommended. Well done.

Excellent Resource for Corporate Bankers & Credit Analysts
This book is long overdue. It typically takes a credit or corporate banking professional several years and several levels (analyst, senior analyst, associate/assistant vice president, and finally, vice president) to piece together the knowledge and analytical skills presented within this wonderful book. The book offers a comprehensive foundation in business, financial, and strategic analysis (among several other related topics) in a very easily digested and understood manner. I guess my only complaint is that I didn't have the opportunity to write it myself!! I would advise every credit or relationship management team leader to purchase this book for their entire team -- particularly for their analysts and associates (although... on second thought, perhaps everyone on the team should have a copy in their desk drawer.) Bottom line: Highly-recommended. AAA+++

Solid introduction, lacking depth
I purchased this book as a review/primer for a full credit training course with my employer. I am two years out of school and wanted to give myself a solid background as the training was graded and competitive.

This book gives a solid background on the fundamentals that one would need to understand. It is by no means exhaustive. The training I went through was six weeks and this book totaled roughly the equivalent of one week of class work and independent study. That said, it touches on every major area so I felt very prepared going into each and every class. Also, the case studies at the end were especially useful as part of the class (and every similar class I am aware of) includes a full case study/credit presentation as the final report.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone preparing for a similar training program or to transition into any corporate credit analysis position, however, it is not a substitute by any means. I believe it would also serve as a great refresher or reference book for someone returning to the industry or even someone with experience.